If you have you might have seen that Indycar has some very interesting similarities to Formula 1 and current proposals for the future of F1.

But unlike F1 at the moment it’s very hard to predict a winner in Indycar. So far this year there are only two repeat winners from 10 races: Scott Dixon from New Zealand and good ol’ JPM – yes Juan Pablo Montoya! He’s won two races including the famed Indy 500.

And last year’s series champion, Will Power (great name by the way) has only one race win even while grabbing 5 pole positions.
In fact at the most recent race held on the Toronto streets there were six different leaders and a winning margin of only 1.4 seconds.

Plus six different teams have won despite the Penske team having the strongest driver, car and engine line-up. And they have four cars running while some only have one!

Montoya Indy 500 winner

Makes you wonder what might happen if they decided to run three Ferraris in F1 doesn’t it?

This unpredictability coupled with the ‘difficult to drive’ nature of the cars and the varied oval and old school track and street circuits makes for some very interesting watching.

All of this sounds very unlike 2014 -15 Formula 1 doesn’t it?

So it begs the question if Indycar is actually fairly exciting, hard to predict stuff, what does it have in common with current F1?

Option and prime tyre use
Small tyre widths with similar diameters rims 13 & 15 in
Turbo V6’s (no ERS, MGUK etc in Indy though)
Little relevance to a road car
Gifted drivers (don’t start with the F1 rejects argument as these guys are very consistent fast world class drivers)
Juan+Pablo+Montoya+Indianapolis+500

What Indycars have that current F1 doesn’t:

Regulated aero – Chevy powered cars run 1 aero kit while Honda engined cars run a different kit
No DRS but Push to Pass – engine boost limited to 10 uses per road track race (not ovals)
Regulated chassis made by Dallara in Italy
Two homologated engines Chevy and Honda
Reasonably stable rules that favour the law of diminishing returns.
Refueling (this also doesn’t seem to effect passing on track like it did in F1 1994 – 2009)
Six speed gearbox vs eight speed
Oval Races – I dare you to watch one properly & not marvel at how these guys consistently do 225+ mph (360+ KPH) laps a few metres from each other and make daring passes – daring because the consequences are very serious – just YouTube some Indy 500 crashes to get an idea.
Limited team telemetry and race ‘garages’ (looks like F1 in the 70’s, out in the open, a few cover shades not many computers to be seen)
All drivers/teams get points – (similar to go-karting format)
Drivers get bonus pays for best rookie, fastest lap & of course their placings.
And Indycar races have close race finishes…
May 24, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; General view of fans prior to the 2015 Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

Now… things for the fans:

Indycar drivers are accessible, extremely well marketed and well presented to the fans (and happy to be in contact with the fans) and subsequently attract a lot of varied sponsorship which is vital to the sport.
Races are comparatively cheap to attend in decent seats compared to F1. eg. five race package including the Indy 500 with Pit & Garage passes with stadium seats for $1200!
Plus there’s always after parties and other spectacles going on.
There’s also multiple formats eg. the Dual in Detroit – one race on Saturday and one on Sunday, and the Indianapolis Road course followed by the Indy 500 oval the next week.
And ovals are not necessarily oval – check out the three turn ‘oval’ at Pocono raceway called ‘the tricky triangle’.
All of this is leading to another tough unpredictable championship.
So can F1 learn anything from Indycar?

It is interesting timing that you posted this.
I posed a very similar thought to my former race mechanic and engine builder as we were at the June Sprints at Road America. I was there watching and not driving so we were in the paddocks checking out some cars and we kept going back onto the topic of the Indy versus F1 scene. The article you posted echoed several points that we had touched on.
It is clear that hardcore racing fans are talking about this. When Champ cars folded and there was only one fast open wheel US series left (IRL) at the time it was on lean times for them. The last 10 years has been remarkable to see it now flourish as Indy Car.
Andretti racing even promotes the oval race in Milwaukee at the Milwaukee mile. It is the oldest operating speedway in the world. It was going to be shut down by the state because it is on the state fair grounds and it was losing a lot of money. Even NASCAR pulled out of racing on it. Since then the Indyfest as it has been named since Andretti revived it has been a huge hit with the fans and draws a full house.
Needless to say for a city that is in a very bad way financially that week is huge for the local economy. Open wheel is alive and well in a very small market here.
When Champ cars and the IRL were running separately we had 3 huge events for speed freaks within a 55 mile radius. The Champ cars would run the Milwaukee Mile and the amazing 4 mile Road America course. Then the IRL would also run the oval on a different weekend.
I hope Indy cars start to run at Road America again. They would be a great feature on the schedule at Road America and it would draw between 75,000 and 80,000 fans. Champ cars easily got that many tickets sold when they ran there.
Champ cars died because they were not listening to the fans and the directors were very heavy handed. The cars were much faster than the IRL cars of the day. They were more fun to watch. They had the big name drivers and spent lots of money on the wrong things. Combine that with very poor promotion and it was doomed to fail. There is a loose parallel to that and what F1 is going through right now.

The only thing IndyCar does that would help F1 is the access to the drivers. At the race in Montreal a couple of weeks ago during the normal driver parade, different drivers dismounted from their rides and were interviewed at fan friendly spots around the track, (four drivers at the Senna Curve and another four at the hairpin. This went over very well with the fans. When Alonso's car drove by he told the driver to stop as he got out and ran to the fence. He whipped off his cap and threw it into the crowd. The place went nuts. This is the kind of interaction with the fans that F1 needs.